12 replies to this topic

[RisaBB]

Hi,

I've been MIA here for years, but I'm hoping to hear back from you guys with some feedback on an internal linking strategy that I was thinking about. I want to make a big push to work on my internal linking architecture.

I have an e-commerce site with about 20 main category pages. I'd like to rank well for 2-3 phrases for each of those main category pages. In each category, there are about 150 products. Is it OK to link to the category page from my products pages and splitting the anchor text among those 150 pages.

For example, I want to optimize a category page called "Jane Smith" with the following keywords phrases:

Jane Smith
Jane Smith Collection
Jane Smith Widgets

So, on 50 product detail pages, after giving a nice long description of the product, at the end I might write, "We carry the entire Jane Smith line" and link to the main Jane Smith page. For the next 50 pages I'd use 'Jane Smith Collection' as the anchor text, then 'Jane Smith Widgets' for the next 50 product pages.

So, after not much effort, the Jane Smith page will have 150 internal links with 3 different anchor texts. Something about this doesn't sound quite right to me. Is it a sound internal link-building method? Or, should I just pick a handful of pages to link to the category page?

Thanks.

Risa

[Randy]

Sure your product pages can link to the category page. Most carts do. And it's good for users too.

And yes you can link to them however you want. But you'll want to make sure all of those words in your three phrases also appear on the category page.

[RisaBB]

Thanks, Randy. I put this post in the wrong place. I meant to put it under 'Link Building.'

[Jill]

You did put it in link building, I moved it to internal linking, since that's what you're talking about, no?

[RisaBB]

Yes - Jill - you're right. At a quick glance, I thought those were pinned topics and not sub-categories. Thanks.

[SERPico]

Hi Risa, I hope you don't mind high jacking your thread a bit, but i have a question that fits well with your original question.

The situation:

1. Category Page: Spiderman Comic Books

2. Article Page about: Spiderman Comic Books Collectors Sold Collection For $500K <-- Page Title Of Article

When you have an article like that you're bound to have multiple instances of using the keyword combo: "Spiderman Comic Books"
Lets assume there is no other way to write about the topic by having that specific keyword combo included in the article, even multiple times.

Of course you want your main category page to rank for the keyword combo: "Spiderman Comic Books" since the category page includes commercial products.

So you link instances of the keyword combo: "Spiderman Comic Books" to the "Spiderman Comic Books" category page.


Question:

Is it necessary to link up every keyword combination of "Spiderman Comic Books" found on that article page to the main "Spiderman Comic Books" category page?

Or is having a few "Spiderman Comic Books" anchor links enough to show there is more priority to rank the "Spiderman Comic Books" category page for the search query "Spiderman Comic Books" ?

Referring to keyword cannibalization

[Randy]

Is it necessary to link up every keyword combination of "Spiderman Comic Books" found on that article page to the main "Spiderman Comic Books" category page?

No. In fact, it looks forced and funny if you do link every single instance of the phrase.

Look at it from a users perspective and link where it would make the most sense for your users and you should be fine.

[SERPico]

Thanks for clarifying Randy.

[qwerty]

Not only does it look forced and funny, but it doesn't work. Let's say the article links to the category page twice, both times using the anchor text "Spiderman Comic Books".

When a spider (no relation) comes across the first link, its reaction is something to the effect of, "OK, it looks like there's a page over there that's about Spiderman comic books. I'll make note of that and check it out later." When it hits the second link, it's reaction is not, "Wow, that other page must really be relevant to Spiderman comic books, because this guy is really being emphatic in telling me about it." It's more likely to be, "Yes, I know. You already told me."

[SERPico]

But it wouldn't be necessarily be a bad thing right if it happens to be there are two instances of two identical anchor links?

In the event of a call to action on the top and bottom of an article?

[qwerty]

Nope, not a bad thing at all. As Randy said, do it for your users. The search engines will get the message from one link and ignore the rest. For people, put your calls to action and links wherever it makes sense to put them and in whatever number makes sense.

[Jill]

Offtopic

When a spider (no relation)

[SERPico]

Nope, not a bad thing at all. As Randy said, do it for your users. The search engines will get the message from one link and ignore the rest. For people, put your calls to action and links wherever it makes sense to put them and in whatever number makes sense.

Okay thanks!